The present invention relates generally to vehicle exterior illumination and signaling and, more particularly, to the incorporation of exterior illumination and signaling into the vehicle side mirrors and appliques.
Side mirror assemblies have now been used for many years to provide exterior illumination and signal lighting. Typically, this is accomplished by mounting an incandescent lamp within the mirror housing itself and then routing electrical power to the lamp through the mirror housing and into the door panel. Sometimes, these side mirror assemblies utilize breakaway mirrors pivotally mounted on a support arm (often called an applique), in which case the power is routed through the pivotal connection to the applique and then into the door panel. See, for example, the following U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,155 to Hart; U.S. Pat. No. 4,661,800 to Yamazaki; U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,214 to Heidman, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,306 to Pastrick; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,283 to Nagel et al. It is also known to mount a lamp into the applique itself, with the lamp directly providing area illumination from the applique. See, for example, the Japanese patent document 62-218248 to Satoshi and the German patents DE 36 35 471 and DE 36 35 473 to Deicke and Ball, respectively.
To provide the best perspective for area illumination from these side mirror mounted lamps, it is desirable that they be mounted as far out on the side mirror as possible. However, doing so exposes them to various environmental hazards, including increased vibration which can reduce the life of the lamp. Thermal management of the lamps can also be difficult in such arrangements. Accordingly, there is a need for a side mirror assembly which provides illumination and/or signal lighting from an outboard location on the mirror assembly, while avoiding some of the disadvantages of locating the lamp at that same location.
In accordance with the invention, there is provided a side mirror assembly for a vehicle that utilizes a waveguide to route light from a location at the vehicle/mirror assembly interface to an outboard location on the mirror assembly. The side mirror assembly includes the waveguide, a mounting member, and a reflective element such as a mirror attached to the mounting member. The mounting member has a mounting surface for attachment of the mounting member to the vehicle, and the waveguide extends from a first location proximate the mounting surface to a second location proximate the reflective element. Preferably, the waveguide is located within the mounting member with the light exiting the waveguide and mounting member through an opening in the mounting member.
The waveguide can be used to provide area illumination from the side mirror assembly, or to provide brake or turn signal lighting. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a stacked waveguide arrangement can be used so that these multiple lighting functions can be incorporated together into the mirror assembly.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the mounting member comprises a mirror mount or applique that supports a separate housing containing the mirror, with the waveguide extending through the mirror mount and being optically coupled to a second waveguide that then routes the light to an outboard location in the mirror housing. When used on a breakaway side mirror assembly of the type that allows the mirror to pivot relative to the mirror mount, the optical coupling can be located such that at least a portion of the light couples between the waveguides regardless of the relative pivotal position of the mirror and mirror mount. For this purpose, semi-circular reflective surfaces on the two waveguides can be used to maintain good optical coupling regardless of the pivotal position of the mirror.